Stadium Lofts may start residential move near Safeco, Qwest

Published 10:00 pm, Sunday, March 30, 2008

A new developer has taken charge of a prominent project expected to bring new residents to the area around Safeco and Qwest fields.

Although that construction is scheduled to start early next year, other projects continue to wait on city code changes that have been working their way through the process for two years.

Developer Nitze-Stagen and preservation group Historic Seattle initially proposed the Stadium Lofts condominium project for the Seattle Plumbing Building, a two-story, 104-year-old brick triangle wedged between Qwest Field and a ramp onto the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Seattle developer Maria Barrientos now has the lead on the project, although Nitze-Stagen and Historic Seattle remain involved.

Last month, Stadium Lofts LLC executed an option to buy the building from King County. The plan calls for four more stories, three of them tall loft levels, bringing the building's height to about 100 feet. The finished building would have 70 to 80 lofts and flats above retail space.

"We see it as a tremendous opportunity to create a significant project in Pioneer Square that will help build the fabric of Pioneer Square by bringing more residents to the neighborhood," said Laura Bachman, Barrientos' principal on the project.

"Our company's focus is to develop in the neighborhoods that are close to downtown and close to multiple modes of transportation."

Barrientos has been involved in the renovation of more than 20 historic buildings and also is working on a project to add three floors of apartments above a two-story concrete Capitol Hill building erected as an auto dealership in 1910.

She has more experience with projects like Stadium Lofts, said Kevin Daniels, Nitze-Stagen's president and chief operating officer.

"I just felt our company's focus was better spent on the commercial side of the projects we're working on," he said.

That doesn't mean Nitze-Stagen has lost enthusiasm for the area.

"I think it's the most exciting neighborhood in the city," Daniels said. "You have the historic neighborhood, you have the stadium-entertainment district, you have the best transit options in the entire region."

What's missing is more and varied housing, he said, noting that nearly 1,000 people have pre-registered on the Stadium Lofts Web site. "Once we get those range of options, it will be quite a vibrant community."

Mark Blatter, director of real estate for Historic Seattle, said he hopes adding more residents will bring more stability to the Pioneer Square area and allow more businesses to thrive.

"Urban places, to be safe, need people who care about what's going on in their neighborhood, and not just 9 to 5," he said.

The Pioneer Square area has fewer than 1,000 homes now. The biggest proposed project -- a plan by a partnership of Nitze-Stagen, Opus Northwest and the Seattle Housing Authority -- would put at least 400 homes, along with retail space, on the northern half of the county-owned parking lot north of Qwest Field.

City plans call for about 6,000 new homes south of downtown through 2030 -- 2,000 in Pioneer Square and residential areas around the stadiums, and the rest in the International District, although the totals and distribution vary among three alternative scenarios.

Nearly two years ago, planners announced the start of what they said could be a yearlong process to study raising building heights to allow for such development.

In November, planners released a draft environmental impact study, looking at how code changes would affect issues such as traffic and housing affordability, and how new development would fit into the existing community.

An accompanying timetable called for a final impact statement in the first quarter of this year, with proposed code changes going to the City Council in the third quarter. Planners now expect to have the impact statement done in mid-May.

The north-lot project is waiting on those code changes, which would raise height limits on the site from 120 feet to at least 150 feet.

"It would be better for us if the decisions had been made at a quicker pace than they have been made," Daniels said. "There's a lot of interest from all of the stakeholders down there to get something moving as soon as possible."